The Tokyo Gentlemen's Club
by Swagnarok
Summary: As Kogoro leaves the house one night and refuses to tell anyone where he's going, Conan and Nancy decide to trail him. They stumble upon Tokyo's best kept secret. Episodes 919-920
1. Episode 919

"I'll be back before midnight. Okay, bye!"

" _Chotto matte_ , you get back here right thi…!"

Before Eri could finish, Kogoro had shut the door behind him.

He breathed in the night air, which on this night was tainted only slightly by the aerosol pollutants associated with big cities such as Tokyo. The crisp, clear air felt nice, especially after spending 4 hours straight indoors.

He hadn't stepped outside just to get a breath of fresh air, however. He had urgent business to attend to, business which wouldn't tolerate delay.

Of course, he didn't tell Eri where he was really going. She couldn't ever know. No one could ever know; he didn't know anyone that he could trust with his secret. His secret double life…

Whenever Ran was still alive, he never told her either. He was always reluctant to tell Ran whenever he was going out to drink, but the magnitude of his secret was as such that whenever he had to go out and attend to these secret matters of his, he would tell her that he was headed for the bar. He always thought of it as a white lie; if she knew the truth, would she have thought of him any differently? He didn't want to find out.

He took a step away from the Mouri Residence, and then another. He glanced back to make sure that nobody was following him. Nobody was. So he continued on his way, resolving to occasionally look back so as to prevent being followed without his notice.

As soon as the Mouri Residence was out of sight, he slipped his hand into his coat and pulled out a ski mask, AKA balaclava. He hoped not to run into any police officers on the way there, for they would surely take such a suspicious looking guy in for questioning, and they would doubtlessly ask too many questions. What a pain that would be, and it would interfere with him doing that thing which he needed to do tonight. And if they alerted Eri that her husband had been taken in for questioning, his secret would be in jeopardy.

He reached into a pocket of his coat and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He lit it and put it to his lips. He sucked in and then puffed out. Had the night been much colder, the cigarette smoke might've been mistaken for his breath. But it mattered not; nobody had seen him yet.

He passed by a dark alleyway. This would be the perfect place for an ambush, he thought. Perhaps I should've brought a weapon?

Fortunately, he made it unaccosted to his destination. He had been here almost a hundred times, but in the past he had failed to recognise what an ideal building this was for the secret activities conducted inside; the windows were tinted so what was happening inside could not be made out easily, but a person inside the building could easily see outside.

He sighed, turned the door handle, pushed the door open, and stepped inside…

 **Scene Transition**

"Are you sure this is the place?" Nancy asked.

"It's where the tracker leads," Conan said, wearing the tracking glasses. "I don't think the old man would know that he was bugged; I put it on the bottom of his shoe about half a minute before he left, and he wouldn't suspect that a kid bugged him. I think this really is the place."

They stared at the building; the windows were tinted, but light was emanating from behind the glass so clearly there were people inside.

"Will we take the front?" Nancy asked.

"No, it's too risky," Conan said. "Let's find a side entrance."

They found one, managed to force the heavy door open, went inside, ran to a corner, snuck a peek around, and…

What they saw blew their minds.

 **Opening:**

(Jump by Mai Kuraki)

(In my time as a detective I've learned that tingling feelings are subconscious observations! Kogoro's suspicious behaviour…where is he sneaking off to at night? He perceives the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, his name is…Detective Conan!)

Sometimes I think the beat is just too fast for me

Other times the beat is way too slow

The clothes passed down to me are a size too small

How can anyone walk in these shoes?

The thermostat is kept a notch too low

My awkward shadow bumps into everything

The silence in my daily life is deafening

And other times the music's way too loud

There is a world for me over the canyon

A world that's just my size, just my tempo

Don't look back, don't look down

Just close your eyes and take a leap into the dark

You got to jump, you got to jump

Like you're reaching for precious oxygen

You got to jump, you got to jump

Like you're aiming for the shining stars

You got to jump, you got to jump

Don't even fall back to get a running start

When your feet hit ground that's its own reward

But you will never know until you jump

 **The Tokyo Gentlemen's Club! Part One!**

"Huuuh?!" Conan exclaimed, no longer caring about staying hidden.

There were dozens of grown men clad only in a towel wrapped around their waists. Some were relaxing in a hot tub, others were entering or leaving rooms marked "Sauna". Others were lying down on their stomachs on raised boards or on the ground, men in light blue uniforms giving them massages. There were four tanning beds in one corner. There was also a karaoke room, where they could make out somebody butchering a certain internationally recognised hit single from the 1990s by Yoko Takahashi. There were several men in one area stretching and doing yoga. A few were even receiving manicures and pedicures.

This was a spa, except all of the customers were male. Furthermore, most of the customers were wearing a mask of some kind, if only just a flu mask and sunglasses. Many of the customers who weren't wearing regular or makeshift masks were wearing those white face masks with cucumbers over their eyes.

"Grown men," Nancy said with a deadpan look on her face. "Am I hallucinating?"

"Nope," Conan said, that exact same look on his face.

Suddenly they found themselves being lifted by the back of their shirts. It was some burly guy in a suit.

"Hey, I've caught some kids snoopin' around here!" he said.

Everyone there immediately stopped what they were doing and turned to look. Could their faces be made out, they would've all looked mortified.

Another man approached the two kids. He was…

"J-jirokichi-san!" Conan said, flabbergasted.

Indeed; it was Sonoko's uncle Jirokichi. He was fully dressed and he wasn't wearing any kind of mask, which implied that he wasn't a customer. Rather, he was the owner of this establishment.

"The boy I recognise, but who's the girl?" Jirokichi asked.

"Ah, this is Nancy," Conan said in a childish voice. "Uncle Jirokichi, can you please put us down?"

Jirokichi chuckled. "Alright, Minoru, you can put them down. Methinks Conan here can be trusted. If you two will please follow me to the back."

 **Scene Transition**

"Huuuh?" Nancy said. "This place has been open for fifteen years?!"

"Fourteen years and 351 days," Jirokichi said proudly, sitting down at his desk. "Two weeks and it'll have been fifteen years. And it hasn't been discovered yet!"

"Discovered by women, you mean?" Conan said with a sarcastic tone.

"Indeed, meboy," Jirokichi said. "This place is a safe haven for men, a place where they can enjoy 'unmanly' activities without being judged for it. Nancy here is the first girl to ever discover this place's existence. Speaking of which, Nancy, you aren't gonna tell on ole' Jirokichi and his honest business, are ya?"

"So, uh, where's _oto-sa_ …er, I mean…?" Nancy stammered.

"Where's uncle Kogoro?" Conan asked, covering for Nancy's slip-up. "He was the one who we followed here."

"What's that, meboy? Sleeping Kogoro comes here?" Jirokichi asked. "I honestly don't know who my customers are. They all wear masks, see!" He started laughing as if he had just cracked the funniest joke on planet Earth.

"Sir, a customer demands to speak with you!" an employee said.

Jirokichi sighed. "Let the bloke come in."

Kogoro entered. "YOU TWO! What are you doing here?!"

"Aunt Eri wanted to know where you were going," Conan said with a nervous chuckle.

"Hey, you can't tell Eri or anyone else about this!" Kogoro said. "I'll be a laughingstock if you do!"

"It's alright, Mouri," Jirokichi said. "I already talked to the boy. He won't be telling a soul, will ya lad?"

Conan shook his head. "No sir, I sure won't."

Kogoro looked at Conan with distrust. "And what about Nancy?"

"She won't tell anyone either," Conan said. "Isn't that right, Nancy?"

Suddenly they heard some commotion outside the office. They rushed outside and saw a crowd gathered.

A security guard was confronting a man who had just entered.

"Sir, I will not ask you again!" the guard said. "You are barred from these premises, so leave now!"

"I demand to speak to the manager!" the man said.

Jirokichi pushed his way through the crowd. "I'm the manager. What do you want, son?"

"You will let me back in!" Heiichiro Morimoto, age 27, said. "If you don't, I'll tell everyone I know about this little club of yours!"

"You will do no such thing!" Jirokichi barked.

"And if I do, what'll you do about it, huh pops?" Heiichiro asked with a sinister grin.

Jirokichi sighed, knowing that he didn't have a lot of good options here. "Fine. I'll give you one more chance. Cause any more trouble and I really will ban you for life."

Heiichiro smirked. "You know me, pops. I'm a perfect angel."

He strutted over to the front desk and made a cash payment for use of the hot tub and a massage.

 **Scene Transition**

"Anyways, you two need to head on home," Kogoro, who no longer felt the need to wear a mask, said.

"But uncle Kogoro, it's too dark for us to walk home by ourselves," Conan whined. "We're just kids."

Kogoro looked out the window and saw that Conan was right. He sighed. "Fine, you're just going to have to stay here until I'm finished. And stay out of everyone's way. Don't try to use the hot tub or the steam bath or ask for massage."

"Mouri-san, do you want me to finish that massage, or are you done?"

Kogoro turned around. Standing there was an employee, a man with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He had a short buzz cut and a clean-shaven face. His eyelashes were a tad longer than normal, or maybe they were just more visible than with most people. He was a moderately skinny guy, and his head had a somewhat bony, skull-ish look. He was wearing a dark blue shirt with the "Tokyo Gentlemen's Club" logo on it.

The man was Yoshiteru Nichimura, age 29. Conan had met him before, during his most recent showdown with the Black Organisation. During that fateful incident he was accompanied by another, older man with black skin who went by the name Ryan Jackson.

"Hold on," Kogoro said. "How'd you know I'm your client?"

"It was simple, really," Yoshiteru said. "One man always comes here about once a month and requests that I and only I give him a massage. I came to recognise this particular client's voice. Coincidentally, I've seen this client come and go on foot, which would imply that he lives within walking distance from here. Sleeping Kogoro lives within walking distance of this establishment, and from the times I've seen him appear on Yoko Okino's shows I've come to recognise his voice. His voice, coincidentally, is the exact same as that of my once-a-month client; furthermore, my client and Sleeping Kogoro have the exact same height and build. Once I knew who you were, it was easy to find you without your mask on."

Kogoro scoffed. "What are you, some kind of detective?"

"Well, I am kind of big into mystery novels and crime shows," Yoshiteru said modestly.

Conan kept his eyes fixed on this guy. Why was a member of the CIA working at a place like this?

"Uncle Kogoro," Conan said. "Why do you always request this guy in particular?"

"Eh? Well, I heard a rumour that Yoshiteru here is really good at giving massages," Kogoro said. "So I tried him out myself, and BOY IS HE GOOD! Your hands must've been blessed by God or something!"

"Well, I wouldn't quite go that far," Yoshiteru said with a flattered grin. "But everyone I knew growing up said I always had a knack for this sort of thing. Anyway, would you like to continue that massage?"

Kogoro nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes, let's! With all due haste!"

 **Scene Transition**

"Ooh! Yeah! Right there! That's perfect!" Kogoro said, practically purring.

"So, uh, Yoshiteru-san, where are you from?" Conan asked.

"Hey you, brat," Kogoro scolded, but in too good a mood to really get flustered. "Stop bothering strangers."

"Ah, but it turns out me and Conan here have met before," Yoshiteru said.

So he knows, Conan realised. If there's any reason for me not to trust this guy, then I'm in trouble.

"Eh?" Kogoro said. "You have…? Whatever…ahh, this feels good."

"To answer your question, Conan, I was born in Japan but my family moved to the United States when I was very little," Yoshiteru said. "I only moved back to Japan a few years ago, as part of my job for…The Company."

"Eh? Yoshiteru, you have another job?" Kogoro asked.

"Yeah," Yoshiteru said with a grin. "The Company helps keep your society and many others in order. Its successes go unheralded, while its failures are widely known."

"So you're like a cop or something?" Kogoro said, not suspecting that he was speaking to a CIA agent.

"Something like that, yeah," Yoshiteru said. "I can't really tell you the details. Anyway, Conan, I don't know if you've been able to notice but Japanese isn't my native language. English is. Well, my family was Japanese-American so some of this country's language was spoken at home, but I never picked up quite enough to communicate casually in this country until as part of my job I took some mandatory language courses. How's my Japanese?"

"Uh, it's fine," Conan said. "So if you work at The Company, what are you doing working here? It sounds like they would pay you a lot."

"Well, at The Company I work with other Americans," Yoshiteru said. "With this other job I can interact on a regular basis with the native people of Japan, and perhaps now I'll seem like less of an outsider in the country of my birth."

So what he really means is that he's holding this second job in order to blend in, Conan realised. Just as is the case with Rei Furuya, AKA Bourbon.

"By the way, have you met my friend?" Conan asked. "He's a man about your age with dark skin and white hair."

"Conan, there's no way that he met Amuro-kun," Kogoro said, annoyed.

"Actually, I have seen a person like that before," Yoshiteru said. "Not here, of course. In the mornings before work I sometimes visit Café Poirot for a cup of coffee and some sandwiches. Their sandwiches are the best in all of Tokyo, from what I've heard."

"That's strange," Kogoro said. "I've never seen you there before."

"I guess we go at different times," Yoshiteru said.

So he's saying that he has come into contact with Bourbon, Conan thought.

"Hey, the last time we met, your friend had a…bad disease," Conan said, referring to Hidemi Hondou. "How's she doing now?"

"She's made a full recovery," Yoshiteru said. "She's even returned to work full-time. Her brother visited her the other day."

"How did he take it?" Conan asked, referring to Eisuke.

"Well, it was only a 20 minute visit, but he was overjoyed to see that his sister still alive," Yoshiteru said. "Someone had apparently been spreading a rumour that she had died. He was extremely reluctant to leave whenever visiting time ended."

"So her brother, he went back?" Conan asked.

"Why of course," Yoshiteru said. "He returned to The University, and they reinstated him quickly. Once he…get his degree, he hopes to work alongside his sister."

"What's this friend of yours do for a living?" Kogoro asked.

"Oh, she's a diver," Yoshiteru said. "She dives into the deepest depths of the dark, dangerous abyss."

"Whew, I wouldn't want to do something like that," Kogoro said. "I'd hate to get the bends."

(Author's note: "the bends" is decompression sickness.)

"It's a very dangerous line of work," Yoshiteru said. "I worry about her constantly. Any day something could go terribly wrong. And I couldn't stand for something like that to happen. Truth be told…I love her to death. She used to feel the same way about me, but after her father died during a fatal dive she clammed up and refused to open up to anyone. It's truly unfortunate."

"Oh, so she comes from a family of divers?" Kogoro asked, totally oblivious.

Hidemi Hondou and Yoshiteru Nichimura were…in love? Conan realised.

"Eh, where's Nancy?" Kogoro asked.

Curious, Conan looked around and then he saw…

Crap! he thought, running towards her. "Hey, Nancy! You can't do that!"

Nancy was using her phone (Ran's old, outdated model with a sea cucumber keychain on it) to take pictures of the various men who were getting massages, relaxing in the hot tub, and getting manicures and pedicures.

Mom's gonna flip when she sees this, Nancy thought with a deadpan look.

 **Scene Transition**

Kogoro sighed. "You can stop there, Yoshiteru-san. I need to go pee."

He got up and headed for the bathroom. As he headed for the door someone else walked out. Kogoro didn't really notice who it was.

He stepped inside the bathroom and saw…

"HEY!" Kogoro shouted, startled. "What are you doing up there?!"

It was a man, standing on the very top of the toilet. A noose was hanging around his neck, and the other end was tied to a hook on the ceiling.

Suddenly, the man fell off the top of the toilet and hung suspended in midair. He was dead before Kogoro could reach him. The victim was Heiichiro Morimoto.

"GAAAAHHH!"

Hearing Kogoro's scream, Conan and Nancy rushed towards the bathroom. The forced open the heavy bathroom door and saw Heiichiro's corpse hanging there.

"What happened?"

Another person suddenly entered the bathroom. It was…

Masumi?! Conan realised.

 **Scene Transition**

Conan and Kogoro stepped outside of the bathroom. A crowd had gathered.

"Mouri, what happened in there?" Jirokichi demanded.

"Somebody killed himself," Kogoro said. "I've already called an ambulance, though I don't think they'll be able to revive him. Is anybody here a current or former police officer?!"

"I'm with the police! Please excuse me…!"

A fat man with a mask emerged from the back of the crowd. He took off his mask. It was…

" _K-kebu-dono_?!" Kogoro exclaimed, flabbergasted.

"Mouri-kun?!" Megure said.

"I didn't know that you came here!" Kogoro said.

"The feeling is mutual, believe me," Megure said.

I've never seen the inspector shirtless, Conan realised.

Indeed; and it was probably for good reason. Very good reason. They were huge, after all.

Megure had a condition called gynecomastia (AKA "man boobs"), and it's relatively common in teenage boys and middle-aged men. Puberty is one possible cause; obesity and breast cancer are others. What made Megure's case unusual was the abnormally large size of his breasts even for a man with his condition. Be rest assured that Megure did not have breast cancer; rather, it was his weight that brought on this condition, as well as low testosterone associated with aging.

At that moment Conan's brain did something unusual: it made a connection that it shouldn't have made. When he saw Megure's oversized breasts he thought of Ran's…

Snapping out of it, Conan tried desperately to think of something else, anything else. If he got a nosebleed at this moment he'd never be able to live it down.

Kogoro stared awkwardly at them. "Wow…you should probably put on a bra over that."

Why do people keep telling me that? Megure thought sullenly. Are they really that big?

Neither one of them heard the snapping of a phone camera from a short distance away.

"Anyway, I'd like to see the body," Megure said.

 **Scene Transition**

Kogoro, Conan, Nancy, Megure, and Jirokichi stepped inside the men's restroom. Masumi stepped out of the stall where the victim hung himself.

"Something's off," she said to Conan. "If it was his intention to die, why would he do it where people could see?"

"EEEEEHHHH?!" Megure exclaimed when he saw Masumi. "What are you doing here?! This is a men's club!"

Masumi chuckled nervously. "There's a kinda long story behind that, actually. The other day I was eating breakfast at the hotel where I stay when this old man mistook me for a boy and told me about the 'Tokyo Gentlemen's Club'. I was curious so I checked it out one night. This place turned out to be really awesome, so after my first visit I ended up coming here about twice a month. Nobody minds, anyway."

That's because they don't know, Conan thought with a deadpan look.

"Have you tried Yoshiteru?" Masumi said. "He's really good at giving massages."

"I know, right?" Kogoro said excitedly.

"What's this about me?"

Yoshiteru entered the men's bathroom.

"Oh, uh, nothing," Masumi said.

"What happened here?" Yoshiteru asked. "I heard something about someone dying."

"That troublemaker from earlier hung himself in the back stall there," Jirokichi said.

"I'm not so sure about that," Masumi said. "Conan-kun, it seems that way to you too, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Conan said awkwardly. "Uh, for starters, like Masumi-neechan said, there's no reason for him to hang himself in a place with lots of other people. He could've done it at his apartment, or, if he lives with his parents, whenever he was at home by himself for several hours. In doing it here he risked other people intervening and saving his life."

"The man seemed to be a selfish jerk, so I don't imagine he would have a life insurance policy," Masumi continued. "Even if he did, his loved ones would not be able to cash in if he committed suicide. He could've found some way to make it look like an accident if that's what he wanted. If for some reason wanted to ensure that no one could not cash in on his life insurance he could simply cancel the insurance plan, or kill himself privately in what'd obviously be a suicide. In short, there is no apparent reason for him to kill himself in this way. The man is a jerk, but I don't think he'd kill himself publicly just to spite people. If he already wanted to die then it's feasible, but again this would risk people intervening. Besides, the way he did it there would be relatively few witnesses. There's better ways of doing it if his goal was for lots of people to watch him die."

"She's got a point," Megure said. "Mouri, could you recreate what happened for us?"

 **Scene Transition**

Kogoro stood up on the very top of the toilet.

"So he was standing there like that with the noose around his neck?" Jirokichi asked.

"Uh, not quite," Kogoro said. "His feet were at the edge and his back was leaning against the wall, like this." He stood like Heiichiro did, with his head pointing downwards.

"That's odd," Yoshiteru said. "If his intent was to jump, that'd be a bad way to stand. A better way would be to stand upright near the edge. The way you're positioned now, it almost looks like the victim's feet simply slipped off the edge. But who would kill themselves like that?"

It's possible that he was already dead, Conan thought. In this case, the body was put in position by someone else. Since the body was just standing there where anybody could see it, it'd have to be the person who left the bathroom immediately prior to uncle. For this to work he'd have to be in the bathroom with the victim alone, meaning he'd have to lock the door, only unlocking it as he left. Whenever the next person entered the bathroom, the body was set to slip from the top of the toilet and hang suspended in the air by the rope around his neck, giving the appearance that the victim had just then hung himself and therefore providing his killer with an alibi. The first step in solving this case is to find out who left the bathroom immediately before uncle entered. That being said, the more immediate conclusion is that this was a suicide, so unless I can figure out the trick and provide proof, even identifying the killer will be of little use. So how did he do it?

Yoshiteru and Masumi both looked at Conan with grins on their faces, knowing that he had probably already solved half of the case.

 **Ending:**

( _Natsu no Maboroshi_ by Garnet Crow, a chord sheet for my version of the song below)

D# Minor B Major F# Major C# Major

(Wordless opening part to the song)

A Major E Major F# Minor C# Minor

 _Heya no mado no mukou ni hikouki kumo o nazotte_

D Major C# Minor F# Minor G Major (E Major)

 _Kyou kenkashita kimi no koto bakari kangaeteta_

A Major E Major F# Minor C# Minor

 _Sasai na koto de to madotte fuantei de muboubi na_

D Major C# Minor F# Minor

 _Ano koro no you ni sugu ni denwashite_

D Major E Major F# Minor

 _Warai aetara ii no ni ne_

G# Major A# Major C Minor G Minor G# Major A# Major D# Major

 _Chika zuite kuru shifuku no toki wa_

G# Major D# Major G# Major A# Major

 _Itami o tomonainagara ashi oto o tateru_

C Minor G Minor G# Major A# Major D# Major G# Major D# Major A# Major

 _Kangaesugite fukami ni hamaru kimi no soba ni iru no ni_

E Major B Major C# Minor E Major

 _Natsu no maboroshi hitomi tojimete ichiban saishou ni kimi o omoidasu yo_

A Major B Major G# Minor C# Minor

 _Dakedo kimi to ikiteyukitai kara_

A Major E Major F# Minor G# Minor A Major B Major E Major

 _Tomadoinagara demo ii tsunaida te o hanasanaide ne_

 **NEXT CONAN'S HINT:** Toilet Paper


	2. Episode 920

Kogoro stood up on the very top of the toilet.

"So he was standing there like that with the noose around his neck?" Jirokichi asked.

"Uh, not quite," Kogoro said. "His feet were at the edge and his back was leaning against the wall, like this." He stood like Heiichiro did, with his head pointing downwards.

"That's odd," Yoshiteru said. "If his intent was to jump, that'd be a bad way to stand. A better way would be to stand upright near the edge. The way you're positioned now, it almost looks like the victim's feet simply slipped off the edge. But who would kill themselves like that?"

It's possible that he was already dead, Conan thought. In this case, the body was put in position by someone else. Since the body was just standing there where anybody could see it, it'd have to be the person who left the bathroom immediately prior to uncle. For this to work he'd have to be in the bathroom with the victim alone, meaning he'd have to lock the door, only unlocking it as he left. Whenever the next person entered the bathroom, the body was set to slip from the top of the toilet and hang suspended in the air by the rope around his neck, giving the appearance that the victim had just then hung himself and therefore providing his killer with an alibi. The first step in solving this case is to find out who left the bathroom immediately before uncle entered. That being said, the more immediate conclusion is that this was a suicide, so unless I can figure out the trick and provide proof, even identifying the killer will be of little use. So how did he do it?

Yoshiteru and Masumi both looked at Conan with grins on their faces, knowing that he had probably already solved half of the case.

 **Opening:**

(Jump by Mai Kuraki)

(In my time as a detective I've learned that tingling feelings are subconscious observations! Kogoro's suspicious behaviour…where is he sneaking off to at night? He perceives the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, his name is…Detective Conan!)

Sometimes I think the beat is just too fast for me

Other times the beat is way too slow

The clothes passed down to me are a size too small

How can anyone walk in these shoes?

The thermostat is kept a notch too low

My awkward shadow bumps into everything

The silence in my daily life is deafening

And other times the music's way too loud

There is a world for me over the canyon

A world that's just my size, just my tempo

Don't look back, don't look down

Just close your eyes and take a leap into the dark

You got to jump, you got to jump

Like you're reaching for precious oxygen

You got to jump, you got to jump

Like you're aiming for the shining stars

You got to jump, you got to jump

Don't even fall back to get a running start

When your feet hit ground that's its own reward

But you will never know until you jump

 **The Tokyo Gentlemen's Club! Part Two!**

They heard the sound of an ambulance car. They left the bathroom and looked through the windows; sure enough, there it was right outside of the building. The customers were heading for the door when…

"NOBODY LEAVE!" Megure barked. "This may've been a murder! If so, we can't afford for anybody to leave the building!"

"Don't let them leave!" Jirokichi ordered to his employees. Minoru (the big guy from earlier) moved quickly to block the exit.

Within a minute the body was being carried off on a stretcher.

"Sir, if I may check the security cameras, I might be able to figure out who last left the bathroom before Mouri-san entered," Yoshiteru said.

"Good idea," Jirokichi said. "Get to it, meboy."

Yoshiteru headed for the camera room.

"So, um, why was the victim banned?" Kogoro asked.

"He was trying to sell drugs here," Jirokichi said. "That kind of thing will NEVER be tolerated in this establishment!"

Kogoro nodded.

I need to take a look around the crime scene, Conan thought.

He turned around and began to head towards the bathroom when…

"HEY!" Kogoro snapped. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"To the toilet," Conan said in a childish voice, hopping like a young child who was struggling to hold it in. "I have to go really bad."

"Me too," Nancy said, following Conan's lead.

Kogoro sighed. "Don't take too long in there."

 **Scene Transition**

"You think this was a murder?" Nancy asked.

Conan nodded. "It doesn't add up that this was a suicide."

He and Nancy entered the stall where the incident took place.

Nancy pulled down the lid and climbed up on the toilet. She felt the top where Heiichiro had been standing.

"It isn't wet," she confirmed, climbing down.

"It wouldn't make sense if the culprit had the corpse slip on a wet surface," Conan said. "There's no way to time that, if it even happened at all, and it would've been essential that he timed it so that he slipped after someone else entered and saw him."

Conan looked at the toilet.

"Hey, do you remember the toilet seat being raised or lowered?" Conan asked.

Nancy shrugged.

"It was lowered."

With that, Masumi stepped inside the stall.

"So, you have any theories on how it was done?" Masumi asked.

Conan chuckled nervously. "What are you talking about? I'm just a kid! How would I know? I did tell Shinichi-niichan about this case, though."

Masumi looked at Ran. "Who's the girl?"

"Uh, I'm Nancy," she said, extending her hand. Masumi shook it.

It feels so weird, having her shake this tiny hand of mine, Nancy thought.

It was in that moment whenever she looked up that Masumi's face. It was…

Masumi was generally a friendly person. But in this moment she was glaring at Nancy with an extremely fierce, intimidating look. Nancy was taken aback by the intensity of Masumi's gaze and she pulled her hand free.

"W-what are you looking at me…like that for?" Nancy asked.

Outwardly she maintained a moderately calm appearance, but on the inside Ran was totally freaking out.

Does she know?! she thought. No! She can't! She's never seen me at this age, has she? Or do I simply resemble my older self too much, even with this different hair style? What'll be the consequences if she finds out? Can she be trusted with my secret? If the word gets out, what'll I have to do then?

To her surprise, Masumi suddenly grinned really big, with a cutesy look on her face. "No reason!"

As soon as Masumi looked in the other direction, Nancy felt that it was safe now to avert her gaze. In the corner of her eye she could see that Conan had been at least as worried as she was; the difference was that on Conan's face it showed. Or perhaps it had shown on her face too?

Masumi walked over to the toilet and flushed it. Their ears were immediately bombarded by what had to be the loudest toilet any of them had ever heard.

"Dang, that's a strong flush," Masumi said. "I guess he really cares about other people's crap being properly disposed of. These bathrooms are spotless, by the way. It's even cleaner than the ones at the hotel."

"Sera-neechan, have you figured it out?" Conan asked.

"Not yet," Sera said. "I'm thinking that maybe the loudness of this toilet was used to cover up the sound of something else."

"B-but Sera-neechan," Conan said. "That would mean that the toilet was flushing when the victim slipped, right?"

"That's right," Masumi said. "I've already asked Kogoro-san and he confirmed he could hear a toilet at the time."

That's it! Conan realised. The culprit could've done that thing…but would it hold? Is it strong enough? Furthermore, what did he use to time it?

 **Scene Transition**

"Jirokichi-sama, I've found him!"

Yoshiteru was accompanied by a man, Hideru Kajiyama, age 30.

"You were the last person to leave the bathroom before the hanging?" Kogoro asked.

Hideru nodded meekly. "Yeah. I guess."

"Did you have any prior acquaintance with the victim?" Megure asked.

"Dunno," Hideru said. "Who died?"

Kogoro said the victim's full name.

Hideru shrugged. "Doesn't ring a bell."

Conan noticed that he had a backpack. "Hey, _oji-san_ , what's in your backpack?"

"Just stuff," Hideru said. "I'll show you the inside of it if you want."

He opened it and quickly showed it to Kogoro, Megure, Jirokichi, Yoshiteru, Masumi, and Conan. Inside was a towel, his clothes, and at the very bottom a remote control car. Then he showed them the other compartments of the backpack, in which there was nothing.

"See?" he said. "Nothing important. Why? Wait, you don't think that this is a…?"

"At this moment we don't know what to think," Megure said. "What's with the toy car?"

"Oh, this?" he asked. "I'm big into models like this. This one actually has a defect in the steering, so I was going to go see a friend of mine later tonight to see if he could fix it."

"I see," Kogoro said.

 _Naru hodo_ , Conan thought with a smile. It's time to shed some light on this crime.

 **Scene Transition**

Kogoro felt like checking the time, so he turned his phone on. To his surprise, he had nine unread texts, all from Eri.

They read as following:

1: "Tell me where you're going. I'm serious."

2: "Why haven't you answered me yet? You'd better not be out drinking."

3: "D**n it, pick up now!"

4: "This isn't funny! Please, respond now!"

5: "If you don't answer me, I'm coming after you!"

6: "I'm coming now. I'd better not find you at a bar!"

7: "I've looked and looked but I can't find you at any of your usual bars. Where are you?"

8: "DO NOT IGNORE ME! WHERE THE H**L ARE YOU?!"

9: "Kogoro, if you don't answer RIGHT NOW, I'm leaving you again and this time I'm never coming back!"

Kogoro was totally freaking out now. Fortunately, the last message had been sent less than 5 minutes ago.

He picked up his phone and called Eri's number. After a few seconds…

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Eri demanded.

"S-sorry," Kogoro said apologetically. "I've been caught up in a case."

"Wait, so this is work-related?" Eri asked.

"Uh, not really," Kogoro said. "I was, uh, playing mahjong with my buddies when…"

"Mahjong?" Eri asked. "There wasn't any drinking involved, was there?"

"I swear there wasn't," Kogoro said. "Do I sound drunk to you?"

"I can't tell," Eri said. "So what about a murder?"

"Well, we heard someone scream next door so we checked it out and found a dead guy," Kogoro lied. "I'm working with the Inspector to figure out what happened. Okay, bye. I'll be home in an hour or so."

"Hold on, that isn't a sufficient…!"

But before she could say more, Kogoro hung up.

He sighed. "Geez."

Suddenly his phone rang again. He looked and this time it wasn't from Eri. However, the number wasn't in his contacts list so he didn't know who it was. He answered and put it to his ear.

"If this is another one of those Nigerian princes…" Kogoro began, annoyed.

"Ah, Detective Mouri."

"K-Kudo?!" Kogoro said.

Masumi and Yoshiteru looked around; Conan was nowhere to be seen.

"Indeed," Shinichi said. "Please put me on speaker phone so that everyone present can hear me."

Kogoro did as Shinichi asked.

"Hello, everybody," Shinichi said. "Conan-kun told me all about the case, and I've figured out what happened. First of all, is there any life-sized dummies that we can use?"

"You want to recreate what happened in full detail, I'm guessing," Yoshiteru said.

"Right," Shinichi said.

"Unfortunately there's none of those just lying around," Jirokichi said.

"That's problematic," Shinichi said. "The experiment is a bit dangerous to try with a live person."

"You simply want to demonstrate how the body slipped, correct?" Yoshiteru asked.

"Yeah."

"In that case, I volunteer," Yoshiteru said. "I've got good reflexes, so I think I can avoid getting hurt."

"Fair enough," Shinichi said. "If you'll all accompany Nichimura-san to the bathroom."

"Wait, how do you know his name?" Masumi asked.

"Oh, we've met before," Yoshiteru said with a grin.

 **Scene Transition**

Yoshiteru stood up on the very top of the toilet, as the victim and Kogoro had done earlier.

"Okay, here's what happened," Shinichi began. "The victim, Heiichiro-san, went to the bathroom. Hideru-san went in there with him. There was no one else there, and Hideru locked the door, so the trick could proceed as planned."

"What trick?" Hideru asked derisively.

"First, you strangled Heiichiro-san with a rope," Shinichi said. "You then dragged the body into the stall at the back corner. Then you set up the rope on the hook which was hanging from the ceiling. Then, you propped Heiichiro-san's body in a standing position on the top of the toilet, his feet hanging over the edge and his back leaning against the wall. The noose was put around his neck, of course. To the witness it would appear that he was still alive at the time."

"And what?" Hideru snapped. "I just left him there and hoped that the body would magically fall right after someone entered, hopefully before they could get to the body and take it down and realise that he had been dead the whole time?"

"Nope," Shinichi said. "You made the body fall exactly when you wanted it to fall."

"I'm confused," Kogoro said.

"That's okay, detective," Shinichi said. "I haven't finished explaining yet, after all. Nichimura-san, I want you to get down from there real fast and I'd like you to do something for me: feel the toilet paper."

Yoshiteru did as he was told. "Yeah, I feel it. It's rough."

"Try ripping a piece off," Shinichi said.

Yoshiteru did so.

"It did entail some difficulty, correct?" Shinichi asked.

"Yeah," Yoshiteru confirmed. "It was kind of hard to rip off."

"That's why only this place would do," Shinichi said. "Most other places would not have toilet paper or a toilet of this kind, and even if he found such a place he would not be able to predict when the victim would visit that place next, if ever."

"Hold up," Hideru said. "In that case I couldn't have done it, right? The victim had been banned prior to today."

"Perhaps you didn't know that until today?" Shinichi suggested.

Hideru scowled, knowing that this detective brat had got it spot-on. "A-anyway, what does toilet paper have to do with this?"

"Everything," Shinichi said. "Nichimura-san, I have some more instructions for you now. I'd like you to rip a long piece of toilet paper, a size approximately the distance from the water level in the toilet bowl to the top of the toilet, though about three inches longer than that."

Yoshiteru did so.

"Now, I'd like you to put one end on the top of the toilet and put the other end in the toilet bowl so that it touches the water," Shinichi said.

I think I've figured it out now, Yoshiteru thought as he complied with Shinichi's instructions.

"Now, stand up on the top of the toilet again," Shinichi said. "Have your feet stick out as much as they can over the edge, and put your end of the toilet paper under your feet. Then stand like the victim did."

Yoshiteru did so.

"Now, we're going to need another person for this part of the trick," Shinichi said. "Anybody will do."

"I'll do it," Nancy said.

"Thank you, Nancy," Shinichi said.

How the heck did he know that brat's name? Kogoro thought.

"Okay, Nancy, here's what I want you to do," Shinichi said. "I want you to pull down the handle and then quickly take several steps back."

Nancy went up to the toilet handle and pulled it down. Then she ran back as Shinichi had instructed.

The toilet began to flush. The power of the flush pulled on the toilet paper underneath Yoshiteru's feet. It was forcefully pulled out from under his feet, causing him to slip off of the top of the toilet.

Yoshiteru let out a startled yell.

Fortunately, his feet landed on the rim of the outside of the bowl and he used his hands to stop the fall.

"That was a close one," Yoshiteru said. "May I get down now?"

"Yes," Shinichi said, and Yoshiteru got down.

"Y-you're still forgetting one thing," Hideru said, defiant until the end. "The toilets here aren't automatic; someone has to pull down on the handle, as this little girl here just did. If the handle wasn't pulled down, then the toilet wouldn't flush, and then this little trick you've conjured up couldn't happen. But there was nobody around to pull down the handle, so how could it have been done?"

"Indeed," Shinichi said. "This would present perhaps the most difficult problem for the culprit, but you came up with a way around this. First, you took the remote-control car out of your backpack. You tied a string to one end and tied the other end to the toilet handle. Then you laid it down in the stall. I'm presuming that you memorised the layout of this bathroom and that you are quite proficient in using that remote-controlled car. After your trick was set up, you left the bathroom and watched the door. When someone else entered and saw the body, you used your remote control to make it drive towards the adjacent stall, causing the string to pull down on the handle, enough to flush. After some point the string gave way and snapped off. You caused the car to navigate out of the stalls and to the bathroom door. The witness would be too preoccupied with the man who had just committed suicide to notice the toy car, and the sound of the loud toilet would mask the whirring sound that the car would make. This was definitely the most difficult part of your trick, but to make it a little easier on yourself perhaps you held the door open after the witness entered, if only for a few seconds. He wouldn't notice that it had failed to close, and this allowed you to retrieve the car rather easily."

"Proof!" Hideru demanded. "Instead of spewing bulls**t, give me hard evidence!"

"Certainly," Shinichi said. "First of all, the security camera should show that you were holding the bathroom door open right after the witness entered. This would mean that if the trick I just described was used, only you could have done it and left no evidence. Furthermore it would mean that you must've seen the corpse and yet walked away calmly, which would be unusual unless you were the killer. Second, since you brought your own rope, a forensics analysis of your backpack should reveal traces of rope. Third, most likely no fingerprints of the victim will be found on the rope, and yours may quite possibly be found instead. Do you surrender, or need I go on?"

Unable to take the pressure, Hideru fell to his knees. "It's that b****rd's fault!"

"So you admit to the crime?" Kogoro asked.

"…Yeah," Hideru said. "The truth is, I knew the victim. He introduced my girlfriend to drugs; for years I watched her body and mind waste away to nothing as he got rich on the huge sum of money she paid him for her daily fix. She died about half a year ago. There is no way, no way…that I could let a man like that continue to live!"

He began sobbing uncontrollably.

 **Scene Transition**

Eri was sitting on a couch, a really sullen look on her face. Then she heard footsteps; her husband was coming up the stairs.

He opened the door and stepped inside, along with Conan and Nancy.

"Don't pull something like this ever again," she said, struggling to hold back her fury. "Next time you tell me where you're going, before you leave the house."

"Like I said," Kogoro said. "That mahjong game was really…GAAHH!"

Nancy was pulling at Eri's shirt so as to get her attention, a camera in her hand.

"Y-you weren't TAKING PICTURES?!" Kogoro said.

Technically I never agreed not to tell, Nancy thought with a deadpan look.

"What's that, Nancy?" Eri said. "You took pictures? Can I see them?"

Nancy handed the camera to Eri.

"DON'T LOOK AT THAT!" Kogoro screamed.

"Why not?" Eri snapped. "What could be on here that's so…?"

When she saw the first picture, she was genuinely speechless. Then she looked at another, and then another.

"What is…this?" Eri asked.

"It's a spa for men," Nancy said. "It's called the Tokyo Gentlemen's Club, and apparently uncle Kogoro has been going there at night for years."

No one could've anticipated what Eri did next.

 **Ending:**

( _Natsu no Maboroshi_ by Garnet Crow, a chord sheet for my version of the song below)

D# Minor B Major F# Major C# Major

(Wordless opening part to the song)

A Major E Major F# Minor C# Minor

 _Heya no mado no mukou ni hikouki kumo o nazotte_

D Major C# Minor F# Minor G Major (E Major)

 _Kyou kenkashita kimi no koto bakari kangaeteta_

A Major E Major F# Minor C# Minor

 _Sasai na koto de to madotte fuantei de muboubi na_

D Major C# Minor F# Minor

 _Ano koro no you ni sugu ni denwashite_

D Major E Major F# Minor

 _Warai aetara ii no ni ne_

G# Major A# Major C Minor G Minor G# Major A# Major D# Major

 _Chika zuite kuru shifuku no toki wa_

G# Major D# Major G# Major A# Major

 _Itami o tomonainagara ashi oto o tateru_

C Minor G Minor G# Major A# Major D# Major G# Major D# Major A# Major

 _Kangaesugite fukami ni hamaru kimi no soba ni iru no ni_

E Major B Major C# Minor E Major

 _Natsu no maboroshi hitomi tojimete ichiban saishou ni kimi o omoidasu yo_

A Major B Major G# Minor C# Minor

 _Dakedo kimi to ikiteyukitai kara_

A Major E Major F# Minor G# Minor A Major B Major E Major

 _Tomadoinagara demo ii tsunaida te o hanasanaide ne_

 **Post-Ending:**

"Good gracious, woman!" Kogoro said, irritated. "Have you no self-respect?"

Eri had fallen on her butt onto the floor, howling with laughter.

"Wait 'till…every woman I know hears about this!" she said in between laughs.

"No!" Kogoro said. "You can't!"

Finally able to control herself, Eri got up, still chuckling. "This is going on Facebook."

"No! Wait!" Kogoro said, trying to plead with his wife as she walked into the kitchen to go grab her phone.

To make a long story short, the post and the picture evidence associated with it went viral, and thousands of wives throughout the city of Tokyo began interrogating their husbands about their involvement in the Tokyo Gentlemen's Club. Suffice to say, the club shut down for good, and Jirokichi was a very unhappy man for about two weeks afterwards...until he came up with the idea for a men's synchronised swimming club.

 **Scene Transition**

"BWWAAAAHHAHAHHAAA!"

"HAHAHHHAAAHA!"

"GWAAAAHAAAAA!"

Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Genta burst out laughing as Nancy showed them the picture of Inspector Megure's man boobs. Even Haibara struggled to stifle laughter.

I don't ever want to grow old, Conan thought with a deadpan look.

 **Scene Transition**

She opened the door and stepped inside her hotel room. Mary/Satoshi was waiting.

"You were out later than usual," he said.

"…I saw something," Masumi said. "Rather, someone."

Satoshi cocked his head slightly so as to say "Explain".

"I met Shinichi again, and a girl was with him this time," Masumi said. "She looked exactly like as I remember Ran-chan from 10 years ago."

"To my knowledge she doesn't have a sister," Satoshi said.

"No, that was her," Masumi said. "I could see it in her eyes: she worried that I was on to her. And he was too."

"Wait, didn't you attend her funeral?" Satoshi asked.

"Of course I did," Masumi said. "I saw the body up close, and I wasn't mistaken about its identity. So that leaves only one explanation. That man I told you about, the one who I helped Shinichi…"

"Don't say things like that!" Satoshi interrupted. "Gin died! I am sure of that! The man who died then must've been someone else!"

"I'm sure you know what you saw," Masumi said. "But what if he came back? Just like Ran came back? What if there is a pill, just like the one that Shinichi took, except that it can raise the dead?"

"If the Organisation had such a pill that'd be one thing," Satoshi said. "But how would Shinichi get his hands on something like that? And how would he get his hands on a second apotoxin pill?"

"Your parents, I suspect," Masumi said.

"N-no!" Satoshi said. "If my parents developed something like that, wouldn't they have told me?"

Besides, he thought. If they developed a drug like that…then why is my sister still dead? Why is Akemi still dead?

"…What are you going to do now?" Satoshi asked.

"Exactly what your mother instructed me to do all those years ago," Masumi said. "My priorities haven't changed."

"So we're going to try again?" Satoshi asked.

"Correct," Masumi said. "Of my seven classmates from ten years ago, he is the most qualified. He truly is the Silver Bullet, and there can be no other."

"So what are you going to do about Ran?" Satoshi asked.

"I'm gonna play along, of course," Masumi said. "Just as I have with Conan Edogawa. Perhaps I should invite the two of them to a party."

"Isn't the sister of that other friend of yours getting married in a week?" Satoshi asked.

"Yeah," Masumi said with a grin. "Nancy Akechi and Sonoko Suzuki need to meet."

 **End of Episode**


End file.
